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BP oil West Glamorgan. 17th January 1981

Accident summary

On 17 January 1981 at approximately 00:07 hours operators on the plant
observed an explosion followed by a fire. They immediately evacuated the
area. On-site security initiated the on-site emergency procedures and called
both the works fire brigade and the local authority fire brigade. Staff in a
nearby control room initiated shut down procedures.

On arrival at the site the fire service set up two cooling sprays onto
LPG pipelines within the plant. The deployment of additional water sprays
was advised to protect unaffected pipelines (carrying kerosene, white
spirit, petrol, fuel gas, high pressure steam, low pressure steam and
lubricating oil) from the heat of the burning propane.

Residual propane in the plant was permitted to burn off and the severity
of the fire gradually diminished. By 07:58 hours the fire was under control.
Isolated pockets of oil residues continued to burn for some hours later.

Propane gas, contained in two 20 tonne storage vessels, was consumed by
fire, and the area around the vessels was severely damaged.

The incident investigation believed that the release of gas occurred as
the result of a damaged seal on a propane recirculating pump. Fire damage of
control cables made process isolation difficult.

Failings in technical measures

An important lesson from this incident is the need to ensure that
adequate maintenance management systems are in place for undertaking
routine inspections, overhauls and for the recording of
operating/maintenance profiles of plant and equipment particularly where
the failure consequences are potentially hazardous.